Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

  Prayer is one of the four pillars of a Dominican lifestyle.  Along with preaching or ministry, community, and study, prayer is how we devote ourselves to a gospel way of life.   We pray in common, joining with our sisters and with all the faithful, wherever we are missioned.  We also develop a cherished relationship with God.  Our founder, Saint Dominic used to say, “Talk to God and about God.” Prayer is how we relate to God and influences how we relate to the whole universe.  Summer, with all its growth and greenery, has so much to teach us about prayer.   Just this week, I have been passing the zucchini plants from our community garden on my way to the Food Pantry.   Each plant, with its bright yellow flower still bursting forth from the stem, seems to be growing bigger on a daily basis.   By the time this vegetable ends up on the table of one of our neighbors to provide a savory meal and sustenance, the zucchini will have “...

I am known to NOT be a sports fan.  Just not what captures my imagination – except figure skating, gymnastics and a few other events that only draw interest occasionally. But there are so many other ways to be in the world that capture true gold.  One of the retreat programs that we offer at the Spiritual Center is a day retreat for confirmation students.  My part of the day is the gifts and fruits of the Spirit.  When I speak of these I also share that there are two important gifts/fruits that never made it to these lists: integrity and humility. Watching the summer Olympics (at least until I have to really go to bed) I find I pay attention to the participants’ skills AND how they win or lose.  Is there a sense of those two unspoken fruits: integrity and humility? More importantly, in my own life, how am I trying to live these out as one who follows the ways of Christ within my vowed Dominican life?  Some days are better than others...